


I know those eyes, I know my girl

by Thatonegayone



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: Gen, Mrs. Greene redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:34:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22194868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thatonegayone/pseuds/Thatonegayone
Summary: "Her head's a mess and her heart's a whirl. I know those eyes. I know my girl. And she's gonna talk to me."
Relationships: Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan
Comments: 20
Kudos: 71





	I know those eyes, I know my girl

Out of all the boys at James Madison High School, Veronica Greene was happy her Alyssa chose Gregory Nolan. 

He was a quiet, respectful boy, unlike that Boomer boy that the Klein’s let their daughter see. But perhaps best of all, he was easy to read. That was the most important part, afterall, he was Alyssa’s first boyfriend and Mrs. Greene needed to make sure he wasn’t pressuring Alyssa into anything. 

Of course, that was a while ago. The kids started dating Junior year, and Alyssa has never been happier. The way her eyes sparkled coming home from school most days — that had never happened before. She usually came home looking worn out, but since Greg came into her life, she was walking with her head up and a spring in her step. 

A year and a half later and the most that Veronica had ever seen her daughter do with Greg was the occasional hug or a kiss on the cheek. He would drive her home after their dates in that pick up truck and walk her to the door, saying goodnight and a quick thank you to Veronica for letting him take Alyssa out. Some nights they would sit in the living room watching movies sometimes instead of going out, and Veronica would listen to them laugh and sing along to whatever Disney movie they were watching from her office. 

However, watching Greg and Alyssa was always interesting for Veronica. They acted more like best friends instead of boyfriend and girlfriend. Sometimes they would hug or hold hands after noticing that she was watching them. Other times they would joke around like Veronica did with her brothers when she was their age. 

Still, he made her happy, and Veronica could tell he genuinely cared about Alyssa, and that’s all that mattered. 

Until Alyssa came home crying. 

She had been acting odd ever since the prom and those horrid actors began sticking their noses in things that didn’t concern them, but this was completely out of the norm for Alyssa. She ran up to her room and locked the door. She didn’t open the door until it was time for school the next day, no matter what Veronica said or did to help her superstar. 

She had no idea how to reach Alyssa, so she went for the next best thing. 

“Greg! How nice to see you.” Veronica said with a smile to the boy sitting on the steps up to the front porch, “would you like to come in? I just made some cookies and Alyssa isn’t back from Debate yet to help me eat them all.” 

Greg looked at her with surprise, rubbing the back of his neck and looking at his shoes. “I don’t know Mrs. Greene. I’m just trying to check on Alyssa.”  
“You’re a good boyfriend, Greg. Please, come in and we can wait for Alyssa together.” Veronica opened the door wider and smiled as the boy picked up his backpack and headed inside. 

They both sat down at the kitchen table as Greg scarfed down chocolate chip cookies. 

“You know Greg, Alyssa came home crying yesterday.” Veronica tried to sound as nonchalant as possible while studying the boy’s face. “Do you know what happened?” 

Greg’s eyes got big and he swallowed. “Uh, I don’t know. She was saying something at lunch about feeling bad about the whole inclusive prom thing for Emma.” 

“Is she friends with Emma?” A saccharine tone covered the edge in Veronica’s voice. Of course Veronica noticed the way Alyssa acted around Greg’s cousin, especially with all this prom drama happening. But, Alyssa was a normal girl, with a normal boyfriend, and a great future ahead of herself, she wasn’t. No. She couldn’t be like Emma Nolan. 

“Well— I mean, Emma is there whenever ‘Lyssa and I hang out at my house, but you know her, she’s a very empathetic person. She doesn’t like seeing anyone get bullied, especially as bad as Emma has been getting it.” Greg said as he reached for another cookie.

Veronica took his words in for a moment. She did feel bad for Emma, but she chose that life for herself. Veronica only hoped that she would be able to make it out of Edgewater and be somewhere she didn’t have to be protected from the community. Afterall, that’s why they made the second prom for Emma — to protect Emma from the other kids who would hurt her.

Still, the way Alyssa’s eyes looked heartbroken during the entire prom fiasco didn’t go unnoticed by Veronica, but she figured that was thanks to her daughter’s big heart. 

“Mom, I’m home!” Alyssa’s voice rang through the house followed by the sound of the front door closing. 

Greg sat up in his chair, wiping cookie crumbs from the side of his mouth as Veronica called out to her daughter. “We’re in the kitchen honey!” 

“We? Why does it smell like cookies? I thought we don’t eat sugar?” Alyssa’s voice was coming closer down the hall towards the kitchen. “Greg. Hi.” 

Greg looked sheepishly from Veronica to Alyssa before giving a half-hearted “Hey ‘Lyssa, can we go upstairs and talk?” 

Both teenagers looked at Veronica who gave a small nod and handed Greg the plate of cookies. Maybe he could get something out of Alyssa and would tell her, or Alyssa would come to her and come clean. Either way, Veronica Greene was going to get to the bottom of this.

Greg left the house before dinner, he said a small goodbye to Mrs. Greene. She and Alyssa ate their dinner in silence, no matter how many times Veronica tried to strike up a conversation, and Alyssa went upstairs to finish her homework while Veronica checked her email one more time before going to bed. 

The inbox was flooded from various parents from the PTA. Subject lines of “Did you see this?”, “You need to watch this”, “IMPORTANT”, and “News got a hold of this”. She was confused and honestly worried that someone had hacked her account until she clicked on the youtube link and was face to face with a tired looking Emma Nolan, sitting on her bed with her guitar in her lap. The girl had a small smile on her face, almost like she was hopeful this video would help her in some way. 

Emma started singing, but Veronica couldn’t be bothered to listen to the girl’s song, instead she was watching her eyes. Veronica had never truly been face to face with the girl, and looking at her now she felt horrible. Emma’s eyes were tired, like all the fight had been drained out of them. She looked like she hadn’t slept in weeks. She looked like Veronica did after Simon left, trying so hard to be strong even though she was dealing with the weight of the world on her shoulders. 

The video ended and Veronica sat there in the dark of her office, looking at Emma Nolan for what felt like the first time. 

She pressed replay. 

The she pressed it again. 

Then again. 

Then again. 

And again. 

She pressed that replay button until her eyes hurt from staring at a computer screen. She pressed that replay button until her heart hurt from looking into Emma Nolan’s eyes and seeing all the hurt that she played a part in. She pressed that replay button until she couldn’t bear to think about the pain she caused. 

Then she looked at her email again. Some parents were changing their tune against Emma — Veronica guessed they saw what she did. Others said they needed to stand firm in their decision so they didn’t look like hypocrites and let down all the families looking at Edgewater to uphold traditional, Christian family values. 

Veronica climbed into bed at 2:30 in the morning, and even though she was exhausted, she couldn’t sleep. She had to figure out how she was going to deal with this in the morning, but all she could think about was the pain in Emma Nolan’s eyes. 

Her alarm went off at 6 and Veronica rolled over and turned it off, trying to wipe the lack of sleep from her eyes. She pulled on her robe and walked down to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee — extra strong — she knew she would need it to try and figure out how to respond to the dozens of press emails she knew she already had in her inbox. 

She dragged herself back upstairs to get ready with a steaming mug of coffee in her hands, stopping briefly by Alyssa’s room when she heard a familiar melody. Alyssa was listening to Emma’s song. Veronica leaned a little closer to the door, trying hard to be as quiet as possible as to not alert Alyssa that she was there. Was she crying? Veronica held her breath and listened to the sounds coming from Alyssa’s room as best as she could, and sure enough, Alyssa was doing her best to hold back sobs. 

And suddenly it all made sense. 

Why Alyssa was dating Greg Nolan. Why they never did more than hug. Why Alyssa was talking to Emma after the assembly when those actors barged in. Why Alyssa was so angry at the prom. Why Alyssa’s eyes sparkled just a little whenever she talked about Emma. 

Alyssa was Emma’s mystery girlfriend. 

Alyssa was— 

And for the first time since Simon left all those years ago, Veronica Greene didn’t know what to do. 

She did her morning routine in a haze. She didn’t know what to think about all of this, let alone what she was going to say to Alyssa or the press. So, Veronica did what she had to do all those years ago, and she put on a brave face and went out to face the world. She dropped Alyssa off at school, sighing at the sight of her daughter with her headphones in and staring at the video of Emma, then at the dozens of news vans parked outside of the gym along with multiple trucks filled with helium tanks and cocktail tables.

She maneuvered into her designated “PTA President” parking spot and started walking towards the gym. Alyssa following behind at a distance, still entranced with the video. 

Veronica managed to make it past the press with a curt “no comment”, and entered into the gym. 

Emma was there, looking genuinely excited until she made eye contact with Veronica and her eyes lost their sparkle and went back to how they were in the video. Mr. Glickman and the rest of his actor friends were buzzing around the gym excitedly while Mr. Hawkins was pointing out places for decorations. 

She didn’t know what to say, so she just stuck with the Veronica Greene, PTA President act that she had been using every time she had come face to face with the actors. “You have to ask the PTA in order to use the gymnasium.” Her voice was shrill and she hated the way it came out. 

Mr. Hawkins and her went back and forth, not that she really noticed what she was saying when the doors opened and Alyssa was watching her. She looked nervous, but sure of herself. Veronica had never seen Alyssa look like that before.

“Mom stop.” Alyssa said, “You have to stop taking for a minute and listen, okay?” 

Veronica didn’t know what to say, so she just responded “No.” She wasn’t ready to have this conversation yet. Not in front of all of these people. 

“Just listen. People don’t turn gay. They are who they are.” Alyssa’s voice was wavering but she stood firm. 

“You don’t know what you’re saying.” Veronica didn’t know what she was saying, this was too much at once. 

Alyssa’s voice stopped wavering and she got louder. “I do! I know how you were raised, but the world is a different place now — it’s not great, but it’s better because of the people who had the courage to be themselves.” She looked at Emma and pointed, “People like her.” 

Veronica’s head was a whirl. This wasn’t the right time. She wanted this moment to be just her and Alyssa, they’d be able to talk about it then. This was just… too much. 

Alyssa continued, “I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just wanna be me, so….. Here goes. I LOVE YOU EMMA NOLAN.” 

Her words rang through the gym. Veronica heard gasps from the groups of parents, teachers, students and the actors as Alyssa held a shaky hand out to Emma. Emma was looking at Alyssa with hopeful eyes, and Veronica couldn’t be mad. She couldn’t feel anything but proud at the moment. But that didn’t mean that she knew what to say. 

“We’ll— We’ll talk about this, okay?” Veronica couldn’t help the shake in her voice. It was a long, sleepless night and this was a lot happening all at once. But, she saw her daughter look back at her with eyes that were finally free and truly happy, and she started crying and left the gym before she made any more of a scene.  
She didn’t see Alyssa until late that night. 

“Alyssa? Honey, can you come here?” Veronica called out over her cup of coffee and the plate of cookies on the table in front of her. 

She heard footsteps stop on the stairs and make their way back down and through the hall to the living room where Veronica was watching some show on the Discovery Channel about truck drivers in the snow. She muted the TV and looked at her daughter with confetti in her hair and stars in her eyes, wearing what Veronica could only assume was Emma’s suit jacket. 

“I made cookies, and I thought we could talk about some stuff.” She made sure her voice was as even and warm as possible. This wasn’t something she wanted Alyssa to be scared of. Veronica knew what it was like being scared of her parents, and it was the last thing she ever wanted for her baby girl. 

Alyssa grabbed a cookie and took a bite while Veronica watched her curiously. How could she not have known? How could she have been so blind to this?

“Mom I—” Alyssa started before Veronica cut her off. 

“Before we start this I want to tell you a few things. I love you and I only want for you to be happy. If Emma is the person who makes you happy, then I’m glad you have her. But I’m your mom, you don’t have to ever be scared to talk to me.” Her bottom lip was quivering, and she managed to speak through a broken voice, “I just don’t want you to have a hard life.” 

“It already is hard.” Alyssa said, taking Veronica’s hand and giving it a small squeeze. “But she makes it better. She always has.”

“How long have you two been together?” 

“A year and a half.” 

“And Greg?” 

“Just a good friend. He knew that it would get some suspicion off of me and Emma at school if he and I started fake dating. And then, well, it just worked because he lives with Emma and Mrs. Nolan and so I could go over to their place to ‘spend time with him’ but I’d really be seeing Emma.” Alyssa said, putting her hand down after physically doing air quotes. 

“You guys did this for a year and a half and only two other people knew?” 

Alyssa shrugged. “Yeah, we had to. Emma’s parents kicked her out and she became the school’s punching bag. She didn’t want that for me and I didn’t know how you would react, so we kept it a secret.” 

Veronica’s heart physically hurt at the thought that Alyssa was worried she would disown her like the Nolans did with Emma. She couldn’t help from crying at that, pulling Alyssa into her arms and held her. “Honey, I need you to know, I would never do that. No matter what. You’re the best thing in my life and I’m going to spend the rest of my life making this up to you.” 

Alyssa relaxed into the embrace and hugged Veronica back. “I love you, Mom.” 

“I love you too, Alyssa.” Veronica said with a teary smile. “Tomorrow if you and Emma aren’t doing anything, I’d like to have her over for dinner. Get to start making it up to the both of you.” 

“I think she’d love that, Mom.” 

They stayed in the hug for a few minutes. Both Greene women sniffling a bit before they let go and Alyssa went upstairs to get out of her prom dress and let her hair down, and Veronica Greene slept well for the first time in weeks. 

The next day was spent cleaning the house and running to the grocery for dinner that night. Veronica had just put the chicken in the oven when there was a knock at the door. As if on cue, there was the sound of Alyssa running down the stairs and yelling “I’ll get it!” 

Veronica untied her apron and fixed a loose hair before Alyssa and Emma walked into the kitchen, holding hands and looking the happiest Veronica had ever seen either of them. Emma had lilacs in her free hand and smiled as she handed them to Veronica. 

“Mrs. Greene, it’s nice to officially meet you.” She said with a nervous, but genuine smile. 

“Emma, I am so happy that you’re here, thank you for coming.” Veronica said, smiling at the spark of hope and happiness in Emma’s eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> me: I'm gunna take a break from writing  
> Also me: writes nearly three thousand words about Mrs. Greene
> 
> This was inspired by (and the title is from) "I know my girl" from The Mad Ones. Go give it a listen, it's absolutely amazing. 
> 
> Thank you for reading my loves.


End file.
